Prediction of properties value in thermoplastic mixtures applying box equivalent model incompatibility in recycled polymer blends

Abstract

The usefulness of a theoretical model of behavior of a mixture of materials is given by the ability to predict their properties from the elements that comprise it. In the equivalent box model (Equivalent Box Model, EBM), is evaluated in mixtures to mechanical behavior from analysis of contributions in parallel and in series of the different elements. We have used this model successfully in quantifying the strength properties of the materials from the individual properties, and its content has been modified to predict properties that are dependent not only on mechanical stress but also on the thermal behavior of materials. These properties can be studied by the heat deflection temperature or the Vicat temperature of plastic matrices, where temperature determined that yields a material subjected to a standard strain. In this paper, we propose extending the EBM model to analyze thermal properties. It is suggested that the contribution to the Vicat softening temperature for a given volume fraction of one of the linear combinations is a function dependent only on the thermal properties and on the other hand, a contribution to consider the compatibility between materials and in dependence of the parameter "A", which is determined within the EBM model from the variation of mechanical properties. Therefore, determining the Vicat softening temperature in a mixture of materials for a given volume fraction, depends on the temperature difference of the components of the lower factor temperatures and miscibility of the materials.